Getting Started with PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

This chapter provides an overview of PeopleSoft Mobile Agent technology and discusses how to:

Implement PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.
Set up PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.
Personalize PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.
Synchronize behind a firewall.
Deploy bootstrap databases.
Debug PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

Understanding PeopleSoft Mobile Agent Technology

Through PeopleSoft Mobile Agent, you can download information from a database server to a mobile device. Mobile sales professionals can access customer information from the PeopleSoft Customer Relationship Management Sales database and display it on a laptop or PDA.

Implementing PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

The functionality to create mobile pages for your applications is delivered as part of standard PeopleSoft PeopleTools that are provided with all PeopleSoft products.

Several activities must be completed before you begin to create mobile pages and implement them on laptops and other mobile devices.

Install your PeopleSoft application according to the installation guide for your database type.

See the PeopleSoft installation guide for your platform and product line.
Establish a user profile that gives you access to PeopleSoft Application Designer and any other processes that you will use.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.49 PeopleBook: Security Administration.

In the planning phase of your implementation, take advantage of all PeopleSoft sources of information, including installation guides, table-loading sequences, data models, and business process maps.

Setting Up PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

This section discusses how to:

Locate PeopleSoft Mobile Agent installation programs.
Distribute PeopleSoft Mobile Agent installation programs.
Install PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

Locating PeopleSoft Mobile Agent Installation Programs

PeopleSoft Mobile Agent installation programs are installed on the web server as part of PeopleSoft Internet Architecture installation.

Find PeopleSoft Mobile Agent installation programs in the mobile portal directory of your web server:

On an OAS web server, this location is ORACLE_HOME\j2ee\PeopleSoft\applications\PeopleSoft\PORTAL\ps\mobile
On a BEA WebLogic web server, this location is PS_HOME\webserv\peoplesoft\applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL\ps\mobile
On an IBM WebSphere web server this location is WEBSPHERE_HOME\AppServer\webserv\peoplesoft\applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL\ps\mobile

Two or more installation files are available in the mobile folder; one for laptops and one for personal digital assistants (PDAs).

An HTML file, index.html, is also available in the same location, to provide a web page for installation program distribution. For example, you can set up a web page with an HTTP URL such as http://<webserver>/ps/mobile, for end users to access the setup program.

See Setting Up PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

Distributing PeopleSoft Mobile Agent Setup Programs

The installation program for PeopleSoft Mobile Agent can be delivered to users in several ways:

From a web site using the provided HTML file.
From a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site.
As an attachment to an email.
As a link to a web or FTP site in an email.
From the web server's mobile portal directory.

Installing PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

To launch the PeopleSoft Mobile Agent Setup wizard:

Double-click the executable file.

Use setup.exe for Win32 installations.

Use setup_pspc_arm.exe for PDA installations, where processor_type is the type of processor in the supported PDA.
Select the path to the destination folder to which you will install the Mobile Agent application.
Select the startup method for PeopleSoft Mobile Agent: automatic or manual.

Automatic mode will start Mobile Agent every time you start your mobile device. Manual will require user intervention to start Mobile Agent.
Select the preferred language for the application.

Note. If you select a language that is not supported by the application server or database that you are connecting to, all data will come back in the default language.
Enter the URL for the synchronization server gateway that the mobile device connects to.
Review the settings that you have selected.
Click Finish to exit the setup wizard.

Personalizing PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

This section discusses how to:

Personalize runtime settings.
Personalize synchronization settings.
Use the personalization component interface.

Personalizing Runtime Settings

An administrator or user personalizes the runtime operating environment with four settings, summarized in the following table.

Personalization Setting	Definition Method	Default Value
Language	At installation	English
Currency	On the My System Profile page	None
Date format	By selecting My Personalizations, International & Regional Settings	Personalization default
Local time zone	By selecting My Personalizations, International & Regional Settings	Personalization default

Set personalization separately for each database that will be synchronized to the user’s device.

Setting the Language

Set the language for the mobile device at installation. The setting is stored in the psmobile.ini file. You can change the selected language only by reinstalling PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

Note. The language preference setting on the My System Profile page does not affect the language setting for mobile devices.

Synchronization requests include the user's preferred language, as set in the psmobile.ini file. The synchronization server uses this value in selecting related-language data, including Message Catalog objects, for the mobile user. The synchronization server does not use the language setting from the user profile, which might be different.

Setting the Currency

To set the currency:

Sign in to PeopleSoft.
Select My System Profile and select a currency code in the Personalizations section of the page.

This defines the default currency code to be selected and displayed if global currencies are enabled by the installation. If not defined, there is no default currency.

To display the specified currency code as the default value for a currency control field on a mobile page, define a reference for the currency control field. PeopleSoft supplies a standard mobile page for PS_CURRENCY_CD_TBL for use as the related mobile page object.

Note. Currency market rates now have mobile synchronization IDs and can be used by mobile applications.

Setting the Date Format and Local Time Zone

To set the date format and local time zone:

Sign in to PeopleSoft.
Select My Personalizations.
Click the Personalize Option button for regional settings.
Select the appropriate settings from the Date Format and Local Time Zone drop-down list boxes.

These settings define:
- The base time zone for the mobile device for all times and dates not otherwise specified.
- The preferred date format for the mobile device.

Using the Personalization Component Interface

The mobile personalization component interface, MOBILE_PREFS_CI, passes the specifications of date format, time zone, currency code, and other date and time parameters set in My Personalizations and My System Profile to the mobile device. PeopleSoft Mobile Agent does not require any mobile-specific personalizations. The mobile user sets preferences using the My Personalizations and My System Profile links in the portal menu.

The PeopleSoft PTPT1000 user permission list includes MOBILE_PREFS_CI, so no additional security is required.

Synchronizing Behind a Firewall

If a firewall protects the network between the mobile device being synchronized and the synchronization server gateway, the firewall must allow passage of the following content types in HTTP messages:

Application/vnd.peoplesoft-mobile-xml
Application/vnd.peoplesoft-mobile-zlib

Deploying Bootstrap Databases

Each PeopleSoft Mobile Agent database contains identifying data specific to the mobile device on which it resides. You can transfer databases between mobile devices by stripping device-specific data from the database. This facilitates distributing bootstrap databases to remote users lacking high-speed internet connections or sharing an initial database within a team.

To prepare a mobile database for distribution, run the following from a command prompt:

psmobile -stamp

psmobile.exe exits immediately after clearing the device-specific data.

The -stamp option is not documented in psmobile.exe help messages.

Setting Debug and Trace Settings in PSMOBILE.INI

You can set debug mode and trace levels by editing the psmobile.ini file. For a laptop, you can edit the psmobile.ini file on the mobile device. This file is either in the C:\\Windows or C:\\WinNT directory. For a PDA, you must copy the psmobile.ini file to the laptop or desktop using ActiveSync, edit it there, and then copy it back to the PDA.

The psmobile.ini file contains debug settings for mobile PeopleCode.

By setting the values in the psmobile.ini file, you can use the PeopleCode debugger with your mobile application.

To create a debug folder in the menu of the mobile page, set debug = 1. This will enable users to browse objects on the device database.

In addition, you can also trace some of the operations in the application. All trace information is written to a file named psmobile.log, located in the directory defined by %temp%.

Note. Be aware that tracing logs can grow to a large size. Only specify tracing when necessary, and only trace critical operations.

The following is an example of the psmobile.ini file.

[PSMOBILE]
Language=ENG
Port=8080
HomeDirectory=C:\Program Files\PeopleSoft\PeopleSoft Mobile Agent
MaxCachedStatements=100
MaxCachedObjects=100
debug=1
[SYNC]
SyncGateway=http://fsampson040502.corp.peoplesoft.com:80/SyncServer
SyncLogVerbose=0
[PCDEBUG]
DebugEnabled=0
DebugDatabase=Your Database Name
DebugOprid=Your OPRID
DebugIPAddress=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
DebugPort=9500
[Trace]
;-------------------------------------------------------------
; PeopleCode Tracing Bitfield
;
; Bit       Type of tracing
; ---       ---------------
; 1         - Trace instructions
; 2         - List the program
; 4         - Show assignments to variables
; 8         - Show fetched values
; 16        - Show stack
; 64        - Trace start of programs
; 128       - Trace external function calls
; 256       - Trace internal function calls
; 512       - Show parameter values
; 1024      - Show function return value
; 2048      - Trace each statement in program
; Dynamic change allowed for TracePC and TracePCMask
TracePC=0

Language	Sets the default language set for the device.
Port	The default port is 8080 if the device port is 80 and the web server is running on port 80. This can be changed to a different port as long as the browser URL used to communicate with psmobile uses the same port.
HomeDirectory	Identifies the path to the directory where PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is installed.
MaxCachedStatements	Sets the maximum number of database commands that can be cached. Resizing this number can affect performance.
MaxCachedObjects	Sets the maximum number of objects that can be cached at one time. Resizing this number can affect performance.
Debug	Use a 0 to turn off debug mode and a 1 to turn on debug mode. See Understanding the PeopleCode Debugger.
DebugEnabled	Specify whether debugging is enabled or not. Use a 0 to turn off debug mode, or a 1 to turn on debug mode.
DebugDatabase	Specify the actual database (not the domain) that application server uses with the PeopleTools PeopleCode debugger (this should be the database that is used for synchronizing).
DebugOperid	Specify the user ID that you use to log on to the PeopleTools PeopleCode debugger.
DebugIPAddress	Specify the IP address of machine name of the application server.
DebugPort	Specify the port number that the application server (PSDBGSRV) has been configured to use.

Specifying Trace Settings

The following are the trace settings you can specify in the psmobile.ini file. You can specify more than one trace by adding the numbers together.

0	Turn off all tracing.
1	Trace all instructions.
2	List the program being traced.
4	Show all assignments to all variables.
8	Show all fetched values.
16	Show stack.
64	Trace the start of programs.
128	Trace external function calls.
256	Trace internal function calls.
512	Show all parameter values.
1024	Show function return value.
2048	Trace each statement in the program.

Setting Syncservergateway.xml

Navigate to the location of the file on the web server and open the file in a text editing tool.

For OAS it is %ORACLE_HOME%\j2ee\PeopleSoft\applications\PeopleSoft\PORTAL\WEB-INF\psftdocs\ps

For WebLogic it is %WEB_HOME%\peoplesoft\applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL\WEB-INF\psftdocs\ps.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>  -
<sync-gateway-config>
<primary-domain>1</primary-domain> 
<trace-level>0</trace-level>
<max-timeslice>10</max-timeslice>
- <domain-list> - 
<domain version="1">
<name>Domain #1 Name Here</name>
<description>Domain #1 Description Here</description>
<connect>CRMORDERCAP3:9000</connect>
<thread-pool-size>1</thread-pool-size>
</domain> </domain-list>
</sync-gateway-config>

Primary-domain	This is the number of primary domain. Should always be set to 1.
Trace-level	Sets the trace flag for sync server gateway on web server. Valid values are 0 (zero) or 1. Enter 0 to disable tracing. If set to 1 and you run the web server on a console (not as a service), you will see debug messages.
Max-timeslice	Maximum time in seconds for the service to complete on the application server. This setting is affected by the number you set for thread-pool sizing.
Domain ID	The number of the domain. The default value should always be set to 1.
Name	Enter the domain name. This value appears to the user upon synching.
Description	Enter the description of the domain. This value appears to the user upon synching.
Connect	Enter the application server name and port number for the Jolt Service Listener on the web server.
Thread-pool size	The value you enter here enables multi-threading. For increased performance, this number should be greater than application server instance number. For example, if you have two application servers, the thread-pool size value should be 3. If this number is too high for the number of application server instances you have configured, performance will be negatively affected.

Note. The values that you enter for thread-pool size and max timeslice may need to be adjusted in relation to each other. If the value for max timeslice is too great and you do not have enough threads, performance for online users may be negatively affected.

Other Sources of Information

In addition to implementation considerations presented in this chapter, take advantage of all PeopleSoft sources of information, including the installation guides, release notes, and PeopleBooks.